Today, NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors canceled the Division I men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments, as well as all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships. This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities.

2020 NCAA bracket

2019 NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket

How are March Madness teams selected?

There are two ways that a team can earn a bid to the NCAA tournament. The 32 Division I conferences all receive an automatic bid, which they each award to the team that wins the postseason conference tournament. Regardless of how a team performed during the regular season, if they are eligible for postseason play and win their conference tournament, they are selected to receive a bid to the NCAA tournament. These teams are known as automatic qualifiers.

The second avenue for an invitation is an at-large bid. The selection committee (more on them in a second) convenes on Selection Sunday, after all regular season and conference tournament games are played, and decides which 36 teams that are not automatic qualifiers have the pedigree to earn an invitation to the tournament.

What is the March Madness selection committee?

The 10-member NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Committee is responsible for selecting, seeding and bracketing the field for the NCAA Tournament. School and conference administrators are nominated by their conference, serve five-year terms and represent a cross-section of the Division I membership.

How do they decide which teams get an at-large bid?

There are a multitude of stats and rankings that the Selection Committee takes into account, but there is no set formula that determines whether a team receives an at-large bid or not.

What's this thing called the NCAA evaluation tool?

The NCAA Evaluation Tool, or NET, is a tool for the committee to evaluate the strength of individual teams. It replaces the RPI and was approved after months of consultation with the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee, the National Association of Basketball Coaches, top basketball analytics experts and Google Cloud Professional Services. It includes game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin (capped at 10 points per game), and net offensive and defensive efficiency.

What is the importance of seeding in March Madness?

The men’s college basketball tournament is made up of 68 teams. On Selection Sunday, before any tournament game is played, those teams are ranked 1 through 68 by the Selection Committee, with the best team in college basketball — based on regular season and conference tournament performance — sitting at No. 1. Four of those teams are eliminated in the opening round of the tournament (known as the First Four), leaving us with a field of 64 for the first round.

Those 64 teams are split into four regions of 16 teams each, with each team being ranked 1 through 16. That ranking is the team’s seed.

In order to reward better teams, first-round matchups are determined by pitting the top team in the region against the bottom team (No. 1 vs. No. 16). Then the next highest vs. the next lowest (No. 2 vs. No. 15), and so on. In theory, this means that the 1 seeds have the easiest opening matchup to win in the bracket.

What is a Cinderella?

Much like the titular character from the fairy tale, a Cinderella team is one that is much more successful than expected. Examples in March would be Villanova’s 1985 championship run, when the eighth-seeded Wildcats became the lowest seeded team to ever win the title, knocking off the heavy favorite Georgetown.

Who has won every NCAA tournament?

In the 80 years since the tournament’s inception, 35 different teams have won a championship, but no team has won more than UCLA, which has 11, 10 of which came a span of 12 years from 1964 to 1975.

Previous March Madness winners

Here is the list of every men’s basketball national championship since the NCAA tournament began in 1939:

YEAR

CHAMPION (RECORD)

HEAD COACH

SCORE

RUNNER-UP

SITE

2019

Virginia (35-3)

Tony Bennett

85-77 (OT)

Texas Tech

Minneapolis, Minn.

2018

Villanova (36-4)

Jay Wright

79-62

Michigan

San Antonio, Tex.

2017

North Carolina (33-7)

Roy Williams

71-65

Gonzaga

Phoenix, Ariz.

2016

Villanova (35-5)

Jay Wright

77-74

North Carolina

Houston, Texas

2015

Duke (35-4)

Mike Krzyzewski

68-63

Wisconsin

Indianapolis, Ind.

2014

Connecticut (32-8)

Kevin Ollie

60-54

Kentucky

Arlington, Texas

2013

Louisville (35-5)*

Rick Pitino

82-76

Michigan

Atlanta, Ga.

2012

Kentucky (38-2)

John Calipari

67-59

Kansas

New Orleans, La.

2011

Connecticut (32-9)

Jim Calhoun

53-41

Butler

Houston, Texas

2010

Duke (35-5)

Mike Krzyzewski

61-59

Butler

Indianapolis, Ind.

2009

North Carolina (34-4)

Roy Williams

89-72

Michigan State

Detroit, Mich.

2008

Kansas (37-3)

Bill Self

75-68 (OT)

Memphis

San Antonio, Texas

2007

Florida (35-5)

Billy Donovan

84-75

Ohio State

Atlanta, Ga.

2006

Florida (33-6)

Billy Donovan

73-57

UCLA

Indianapolis, Ind.

2005

North Carolina (33-4)

Roy Williams

75-70

Illinois

St. Louis, Mo.

2004

Connecticut (33-6)

Jim Calhoun

82-73

Georgia Tech

San Antonio, Texas

2003

Syracuse (30-5)

Jim Boeheim

81-78

Kansas

New Orleans, La.

2002

Maryland (32-4)

Gary Williams

64-52

Indiana

Atlanta, Ga.

2001

Duke (35-4)

Mike Krzyzewski

82-72

Arizona

Minneapolis, Minn.

2000

Michigan State (32-7)

Tom Izzo

89-76

Florida

Indianapolis, Ind.

1999

Connecticut (34-2)

Jim Calhoun

77-74

Duke

St. Petersburg, Fla.

1998

Kentucky (35-4)

Tubby Smith

78-69

Utah

San Antonio, Texas

1997

Arizona (25-9)

Lute Olson

84-79 (OT)

Kentucky

Indianapolis, Ind.

1996

Kentucky (34-2)

Rick Pitino

76-67

Syracuse

East Rutherford, N.J.

1995

UCLA (31-2)

Jim Harrick

89-78

Arkansas

Seattle, Wash.

1994

Arkansas (31-3)

Nolan Richardson

76-72

Duke

Charlotte, N.C.

1993

North Carolina (34-4)

Dean Smith

77-71

Michigan

New Orleans, La.

1992

Duke (34-2)

Mike Krzyzewski

71-51

Michigan

Minneapolis, Minn.

1991

Duke (32-7)

Mike Krzyzewski

72-65

Kansas

Indianapolis, Ind.

1990

UNLV (35-5)

Jerry Tarkanian

103-73

Duke

Denver, Colo.

1989

Michigan (30-7)

Steve Fisher

80-79 (OT)

Seton Hall

Seattle, Wash.

1988

Kansas (27-11)

Larry Brown

83-79

Oklahoma

Kansas City, Mo.

1987

Indiana (30-4)

Bob Knight

74-73

Syracuse

New Orleans, La.

1986

Louisville (32-7)

Denny Crum

72-69

Duke

Dallas, Texas

1985

Villanova (25-10)

Rollie Massimino

66-64

Georgetown

Lexington, Ky,

1984

Georgetown (34-3)

John Thompson

84-75

Houston

Seattle, Wash.

1983

North Carolina State (26-10)

Jim Valvano

54-52

Houston

Albuquerque, N.M.

1982

North Carolina (32-2)

Dean Smith

63-62

Georgetown

New Orleans, La.

1981

Indiana (26-9)

Bob Knight

63-50

North Carolina

Philadelphia, Pa.

1980

Louisville (33-3)

Denny Crum

59-54

UCLA

Indianapolis, Ind.

1979

Michigan State (26-6)

Jud Heathcote

75-64

Indiana State

Salt Lake City, Utah

1978

Kentucky (30-2)

Joe Hall

94-88

Duke

St. Louis, Mo.

1977

Marquette (25-7)

Al McGuire

67-59

North Carolina

Atlanta, Ga.

1976

Indiana (32-0)

Bob Knight

86-68

Michigan

Philadelphia, Pa.

1975

UCLA (28-3)

John Wooden

92-85

Kentucky

San Diego, Calif.

1974

North Carolina State (30-1)

Norm Sloan

76-64

Marquette

Greensboro, N.C.

1973

UCLA (30-0)

John Wooden

87-66

Memphis State

St. Louis, Mo.

1972

UCLA (30-0)

John Wooden

81-76

Florida State

Los Angeles, Calif.

1971

UCLA (29-1)

John Wooden

68-62

Villanova

Houston, Texas

1970

UCLA (28-2)

John Wooden

80-69

Jacksonville

College Park, Md.

1969

UCLA (29-1)

John Wooden

92-72

Purdue

Louisville, Ky.

1968

UCLA (29-1)

John Wooden

78-55

North Carolina

Los Angeles, Calif.

1967

UCLA (30-0)

John Wooden

79-64

Dayton

Louisville, Ky.

1966

UTEP (28-1)

Don Haskins

72-65

Kentucky

College Park, Md.

1965

UCLA (28-2)

John Wooden

91-80

Michigan

Portland, Ore.

1964

UCLA (30-0)

John Wooden

98-83

Duke

Kansas City, Mo.

1963

Loyola (Ill.) (29-2)

George Ireland

60-58 (OT)

Cincinnati

Louisville, Ky.

1962

Cincinnati (29-2)

Ed Jucker

71-59

Ohio State

Louisville, Ky.

1961

Cincinnati (27-3)

Ed Jucker

70-65 (OT)

Ohio State

Kansas City, Mo.

1960

Ohio State (25-3)

Fred Taylor

75-55

California

Daly City, Calif.

1959

California (25-4)

Pete Newell

71-70

West Virginia

Louisville, Ky.

1958

Kentucky (23-6)

Adolph Rupp

84-72

Seattle

Louisville, Ky.

1957

North Carolina (32-0)

Frank McGuire

54-53 (3OT)

Kansas

Kansas City, Mo.

1956

San Francisco (29-0)

Phil Woolpert

83-71

Iowa

Evanston, Ill.

1955

San Francisco (28-1)

Phil Woolpert

77-63

LaSalle

Kansas City, Mo.

1954

La Salle (26-4)

Ken Loeffler

92-76

Bradley

Kansas City, Mo.

1953

Indiana (23-3)

Branch McCracken

69-68

Kansas

Kansas City, Mo.

1952

Kansas (28-3)

Phog Allen

80-63

St. John's

Seattle, Wash.

1951

Kentucky (32-2)

Adolph Rupp

68-58

Kansas State

Minneapolis, Minn.

1950

CCNY (24-5)

Nat Holman

71-68

Bradley

New York, N.Y.

1949

Kentucky (32-2)

Adolph Rupp

46-36

Oklahoma A&M

Seattle, Wash.

1948

Kentucky (36-3)

Adolph Rupp

58-42

Baylor

New York, N.Y.

1947

Holy Cross (27-3)

Doggie Julian

58-47

Oklahoma

New York, N.Y.

1946

Oklahoma State (31-2)

Henry Iba

43-40

North Carolina

New York, N.Y.

1945

Oklahoma State (27-4)

Henry Iba

49-45

NYU

New York, N.Y.

1944

Utah (21-4)

Vadal Peterson

42-40 (OT)

Dartmouth

New York, N.Y.

1943

Wyoming (31-2)

Everett Shelton

46-34

Georgetown

New York, N.Y.

1942

Stanford (28-4)

Everett Dean

53-38

Dartmouth

Kansas City, Mo.

1941

Wisconsin (20-3)

Bud Foster

39-34

Washington State

Kansas City, Mo.

1940

Indiana (20-3)

Branch McCracken

60-42

Kansas

Kansas City, Mo.

1939

Oregon (29-5)

Howard Hobson

46-33

Ohio State

Evanston, Ill.

*Louisville’s participation in the 2013 tournament was later vacated by the Committee on Infractions.